Happenstance by Jamie McGuire Page B

get busy since the
game is over.
    Weston kissed me goodbye, and I walked across the street,
bursting into the back door and tying on my apron with a big grin.
    “Was it fun?” Frankie asked.
    “It was amazing. They won! Weston was great.”
    Frankie nodded, and we worked without a break until close. We
cleaned up quickly, because I would have to hurry and change and make it
downstairs by the time Sam and Julianne brought over dinner at seven. I
encouraged Weston to hurry as soon as I climbed up into the truck, and the
second Weston pulled into the garage, I let go of his hand and darted up the
stairs.
    Thirty minutes later, I emerged, showered, shaven, and lotioned.
Weston was sitting on the top stair, waiting for me. He stood when I walked out
of Whitney’s room. I smiled at him, but he didn’t smile back.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing,” he said, finally forcing a smile. He leaned down and
kissed my cheek, and then we walked downstairs together. Peter and Veronica
were setting the table while Sam and Julianne were uncovering dishes and
setting them in the center.
    Julianne and Sam’s eyes lit up when they saw me, and they both
came over to give me a hug. We sat down to eat, and Weston and I chatted about
our day. The adults asked us more specific questions about our assignments, and
how we felt about certain school policies, which brought us to Weston’s art
project. It could have been small talk, but Sam and Julianne seemed genuinely
interested and hung on to my every word.
    “I would love to see it sometime,” Julianne said.
    “It’s up in my room.”
    “The one you had framed?” Veronica said, a little surprised.
    “Yeah,” Weston said.
    “But you’d been working on that for months, hadn’t you?” his
mother asked.
    Weston looked over at me. “Yes.”
    Recognition lit Veronica’s eyes, and she stifled a grin. She
seemed to want to ask more, but didn’t. We were all stuck in this strange
situation. Weston’s ex-girlfriend was Sam and Julianne’s faux-daughter, who
also happened to be recently deceased. It was hard to know what appropriate
conversation was.
    “This is . . . uncomfortable,” I said.
    Sam’s eyebrows pulled in. “It’s okay. This is such a rare
circumstance, Erin. There’s just no room for judgment. We’re just happy that
you’re happy. That’s all that matters to us.”
    By the time we finished the chocolate cheesecake, Julianne seemed
nervous. During a lull in conversation, Sam took Julianne’s hand, and her eyes
glossed over.
    “Erin,” Sam said. “Julianne and I have been talking quite a bit
this week, and although we know everything has happened very fast for all of
us, we want to ask you if you would come and live in our home . . . until you
go to college, or until you want to live on your own. We just feel we have a
lot of catching up to do, and we’d love it if we could do it as a family.”
    My eyes danced between the both of them. They watched me with
desperate hope in their eyes.
    “You’ll have your own room,” Julianne said. “We’ve already gotten
you a new bed, dresser, and linens. But we thought you might want to make it
yours by choosing your own comforter and things, so I left a few catalogs on
the bed,” Julianne said. She held up her hand. “Not that I’m assuming you’ll
come to live with us. I just . . . didn’t want you to think we’d offer you
Alder’s room. You’ll have your own room, your own clothes, and your own things.”
    Sam leaned forward a bit and pushed up his glasses. “You don’t
have to make a decision tonight. We just want you to know the offer is there.
And we’re not doing anything at all this weekend, just in case you want to, you
know, move in. But again, no pressure.”
    “It’s okay. I think it’d be good,” I said.
    “You do?” Julianne said, in shock.
    I nodded.
    Julianne clapped excitedly and they both stood, rushing around
the table to hug me. Veronica and Peter congratulated us, and happy